"A Guide to Explaining the Trinity Badly"

We started the worship service this morning the way we always do… “We continue in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God.” It’s a callback to our baptism, which Jesus commanded us to do in the Name (singular… Name) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What would later be known as the Trinity. Most of us don’t question it, but it’s a mind-bender for sure.

One God. Three Persons. Not three gods.

And then someone will say, “You know the word “Trinity” isn’t in the Bible—it’s just something the church made up, man.” And this is partly true. The word isn’t in the Bible, but the concept certainly is. Like Jesus said, “Baptize in the Name of… Three Names.”

So, the word Trinity was coined by a guy named Turtulian, as shorthand to explain… well… a whole bunch of things. All of them having to do with Jesus.

Think about it… Jesus and all the Disciples prayed this every day, “Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is One, you shall worship no other!” They were very serious about this. This was Jesus’ answer when He was asked what the greatest commandment is. 

And then Jesus walked around doing things only God can do… forgiving sins, raising the dead, controlling the weather, walking on water… Saying mysterious things like, “I and the Father are one… If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father… Before Abraham was, I Am…” All of the I AM statements in the Gospel of John are Jesus saying He is God, YHWH. The religious leaders definitely noticed, they had Him killed for blasphemy, for saying He was God. And then to top it all off… the disciples worship Him… A Man! He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sat down on the throne of God. I’m just saying… we have to square all that with the idea that the Lord is One God. Well, maybe not square. We have to triangle that.

The disciples apparently had no problem with it. The New Testament has all the pieces but doesn’t give us a way to put it all together. 

But people have tried. 

There’s a long history of explaining the Trinity badly. Every pastor finds this out the hard way. You try an illustration to help people get a handle on the Trinity and realize, “No… that’s a fourth-century heresy.” People say, “The Trinity is like water: liquid, ice, and steam.” Nope. That’s modalism—God just wearing different masks and appearing in different modes. Or they’ll say, “God’s like an egg… shell, yolk, and white.” Nope. That’s partialism—each component is just part of God. Or Apple Pie, or a three-note chord… or a three-leaf-clover… Sorry, Patrick, those are all partialism, too. So, the church landed on One God in Three Persons, not more one than three, not more three than one, the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father, and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all One God. Anything we say beyond that, the more likely we are to fall into one of the ancient heresies.

But people still say things like, “It’s not logical. One plus one plus one doesn’t equal one.” Which is true… but one times one times one… does. And with that, I’ve probably fallen into one of the old heresies. Or maybe a new one… Multiplecationism. 

The church has basically spent two thousand years trying to explain the Trinity, while the early church stands behind us like nervous driving instructors pumping invisible brakes.

It’s okay, we’ll keep thinking about it and trying to understand. We take Jesus at His word, everything He said about Himself and the Father and the Spirit. We believe it all and don’t need to simplify it. The mystery of the Three in One is good to hold in tension. 

Creation tells us there is a Creator, but creation alone doesn’t tell us whether that Creator loves us or has anything good for us. That’s where Jesus comes in.

Because believing there is “a God” is actually kind of terrifying if all you have is nature. Creation tells us there’s a powerful, intelligent Creator capable of beauty and majesty. But, you know, there’s also cancer, tornadoes, parasites, earthquakes, dementia, and whatever dark imagination came up with mosquitoes. We look at the beauty of the Grand Canyon and think, “Wow, God must be glorious.” Then we step on a Lego at 2 AM and are like, “Also kind of mean.”

That’s the deepest struggle we have—it’s not believing God exists. It’s believing He’s actually good. Because honestly, a lot of people believe in some kind of higher power. Most of us think there must be something that made all this. But trusting that He actually wants good things for us and loves us—that’s a lot harder, especially when bad things happen.

That’s been the struggle since Eden… Can He actually be trusted?” 

The serpent’s temptation was basically: “God’s holding out on you. You can’t trust Him.” That’s still our problem. We struggle to trust God—to obey Him. We fight with each other, divide constantly over ego, pride, politics, preferences. We can turn anything into conflict. Give church people fifteen minutes and control over the thermostat—See what happens.

Our text today is the Gospel of John chapter 17. It’s a pretty great glimpse into the heart of God.

John 16:31 says this:

Jesus asked, “Do you finally believe? But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” 

Jesus said, “Do you finally believe?” Hmm. They probably thought they did, they probably thought they were ready for what was about to happen. It’s a heavy moment. He’s about to be arrested, tried, and crucified. Jesus knows they’re not ready. They’re going to scatter to the wind and leave Him dangling in the breeze. It might seem like Jesus is being a little harsh, but that’s not it. He wants them to remember this moment after they run away scared… they’re going to feel bad because they think they left Him alone, but Jesus wants them to understand… He’s never alone. The Father is always with Him. He wants them to have peace of mind. Not only when they go into hiding tomorrow, but also in the future when they have troubles and problems. In this world, you will have many trials and tribulations, but be of good cheer… He has overcome the world.

Then Jesus prayed for them… 

John 17:1-11 says this:

After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began. “I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me. “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.

John 17 is one of the most intimate glimpses into God in the entire Bible because we get to listen in on a conversation between the Son and the Father. Jesus already told the disciples suffering is coming, betrayal is coming, and they’re going to abandon Him. Now, before all that happens, He prays, and we get to listen...

He talks about the glory He shared with the Father before the world was created. That’s trippy. The Son of God was always there. Jesus isn’t just the wise teacher or moral example some people say He is. He’s God in the flesh. Fully God and fully man united in one person. At this point, His body is about 33 years old but as the Second Person of the Trinity He’s eternal—He had no beginning and will have no end. It’s a mind-bender. Fully God and fully man. Not half God and half man. Not two separate persons awkwardly sharing a body like roommates. One Person. Two natures. Fully divine and fully human.

I know this is every bit as confusing as the idea of the Trinity, and the church was going to struggle with how to talk about all these things for centuries, but it’s important to get it right, because if Jesus was only a man, He couldn’t save the world. A creature can’t undo the sins of humanity—the weight of sin is an infinite offense, it’s an infinite debt, it can’t be paid by a finite creature. But also, the offense was done by humanity so if Jesus only appeared to be human while secretly floating through life untouched by suffering, and temptation, then humanity itself would remain unredeemed. The basic idea is “What is not assumed, taken on, in the incarnation cannot be redeemed.” So, in Christ, God joins Himself fully to humanity to redeem humanity.

You tracking with me?

God entered His creation and became one of us. He did this so He could save us. Remember that the next time you’re tempted to think God doesn’t care or doesn’t understand what you’re going through. Remember this the next time you’re tempted to think God is so distant from all the pain and suffering in the world. Remember Jesus. He’s the full revelation of God. Jesus is how God wants us to think of Him, Jesus is how God wants us to know Him. There’s not a better way to understand who God is than to think of Jesus on the cross dying for you. When you see Jesus suffering to save you, you’re seeing God as He wants to be known.

Jesus is praying to the Father for His people, including you and me. In this prayer, we see the eternal relationship of the Trinity. And what do we see? The Father glorifies the Son, and the Son glorifies the Father. Before creation itself, before angels, before galaxies, before time, there was already perfect love within the Trinity. Perfect relationship. Perfect unity. Perfect joy. Which means true ultimate reality isn’t some cold distant God. The center of reality isn’t about loneliness or selfishness or survival of the fittest. At the center of all things is eternal love.

And God is inviting all of us to be part of it.

Because Jesus says eternal life is this… knowing the Father through the Son. Not knowing facts about God. Not just acknowledging we believe God exists. But relationship. Knowing Him, trusting Him, and being in fellowship with Him.

Then Jesus prays for His disciples as people given to Him by the Father. Even knowing they’ll fail Him… He still loves them, still claims them, and still prays for them—to have unity. A unity that He says reflects, in a very imperfect way, the unity shared within the Trinity itself. Within God Himself.

We all know how poor that reflection is—how disconnected we are from God. How disconnected we are from each other. We know podcast theology that just wants to argue. Identity politics that think we’re better than other people. We live in a strange separation of faith and actions, church life over here, and the rest of our life over there.

And when bad things happen, we think it’s not fair, we think God is holding out on us. Why would He let bad things happen to me? We know His commandments, we know what He wants us to do and not to do. But we think His rules apply to other people, not to us. We do what we want. We think we know better than He does how we should live our lives. We don’t see it the way He sees it… Sin isn’t just “breaking His rules.” Sin is betraying our relationship with Him. 

All through the Bible, God says the unfaithfulness of His people is like a cheating spouse. He had one of His prophets, Hosea, marry a prostitute and have kids with her to really drive the point home. She kept running back to her old life. He says that’s what our unfaithfulness looks like to Him. It breaks our relationship with Him… it’s betrayal.

Which is a cosmic offense that really can’t get any worse… 

But it also ruins our relationships with each other. Sin always hurts people. That’s why Jesus prays for our unity, because our sin divides and breaks our relationships. We’re too proud. We want control. We want to be right. We make everything about us at the expense of everyone else. We can’t save ourselves, we don’t even know where to start.

Which is pretty much the whole beautiful point of Christianity. Every one of us came into the world a sinner and spent our lives making it worse—driving more of a wedge between us and God, us and everyone else, every day. But God didn’t just give up and leave us to rot, He didn’t remain distant. He came down to us. He took on flesh and became one of us. He revealed Himself to us in Jesus. One of the disciples said, “Show us the Father.” And Jesus says for all of us to hear, echoing through the ages, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”

What does that mean?

It means, if you want to know what God is like… Look at Jesus. Look at Him healing the sick, forgiving sinners, washing feet, weeping with grieving people. Look at Him loving failures, doubters, cowards, and sinners. Look at Him willingly walking toward the cross for all of us. The cross is where we see God for who He is.

There is no greater love than this: Jesus fully gave Himself over to suffering and sacrifice to save sinners—to save you..

And because Jesus is fully God and fully man, His death actually does it… it saves. He stands in our place. He was perfectly obedient for us in His human nature, and His death has infinite worth because of His divine nature. Then the resurrection is God’s declaration that suffering and death don’t get the final word—not for Christ and not for anyone connected to Him. 

So, back to that question Jesus asked. Do you finally believe? Do you? Because if you do, you are saved from your sins and you will also be raised to new life, just like Jesus was, to live forever in a new reality without all the pain and trouble of this world. 

This is how God is doing it, saving the world, by grace through faith. Trust Him. Believe in the Son. He’s making all things new. You have it now by trusting His promise, and one day you will see His glory face to face.

Hold on to that promise. It’s yours. But Jesus says in this world, we’re still going to have trouble. Christianity doesn’t pretend suffering isn’t real. Jesus didn’t promise we’d have easy lives. He actually promised the opposite… crosses… hardship… death. But that’s what our faith is for. Because He also promised hope for a better world to come and the strength to persevere in this one. And that following Jesus will give your life purpose and meaning.

So, we live differently in this world. In the world but not of it. We can endure suffering because we know it’s temporary. Light and momentary affliction. No matter how heavy and dark they seem. People will disappoint us, but we can forgive because Christ forgave us. People will disagree with us, but we can still walk in unity because fellow believers are people Jesus died for, too. 

We know how the story ends.

No one said the Christian life was going to be easy to understand. It’s full of mystery and deep truths that we’ll spend our whole lives thinking about. We’ll never get to the bottom of it.

I love the mystery of it all. I’m not interested in trying to shrink the Trinity down to some cute little illustration that fits on a coffee mug. God’s not a puzzle to solve. He’s the deepest reality in the universe. 

We don’t have to figure God out, we just need to realize He’s shown us who He is in Christ. Because when we look at Jesus, we don’t see the hidden raw power behind the universe. We see mercy. We see patience. We see sacrifice. We see our Savior, Lord, and friend willingly going to the cross for us. We see God isn’t something to fear, but Someone we can truly trust.
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.